Indigo extract improved psoriasis by 81% in trial

An ointment containing the plant extract Indigo Naturalis, a dark blue plant-based powder, has been shown in published research to help improve the symptoms of psoriasis by over 80% and almost completely clear symptoms in 75% of test subjects

The study, published in the November issue of Archives of Dermatology and carried out at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in China, found that the plant extract Indigo Naturalis when put into a skin ointment exhibited an antipsoriatic effect on psoriatic skin.

The trial, carried out on over 40 patients with treatment-resistant psoriasis, applied the indigo ointment to a psoriatic plaque on one side of their body (usually on the arm, elbow, leg or knee) and then a non-medicated ointment to a parallel plaque on the other side of their body. The researchers assessed and photographed patients’ skin plaques at the beginning of the study and again after two, four, six, eight, 10 and 12 weeks.

After 12 weeks of treatment, the plaques treated with indigo ointment showed significant improvement in scaling, erythema (redness) and induration (hardening) when compared with the plaques treated with non-medicated ointment. 75% of the patients found their plaques were either completely or almost completely cleared after the trial period using the indigo cream.

In addition none of the trial patients experienced any adverse effects of using the Indigo cream.

The researchers concluded that due to the significant improvement of psoriatic skin treated with Indigo cream that further research into more potent extraction methods of this plant extract for the potential treatment of psoriasis was necessary